PACKING AND LAST-MINUTE DETAILS - All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide - page 71

If you're boarding somewhere along the train's route, there's
always the possibility that the train will be late. That means you
should find out exactly when it will arrive before you leave for the
station. After all, if the station is a 90-minute drive from your home
and the train is due at 5:45 in the morning, you'd probably like to
know if it's going to be two hours late on that particular day.
Here's how to find out for sure when your train will arrive:
First try calling the Amtrak office at the station where you'll board.
If no one is there (you may need to leave home before Amtrak
personnel arrive at the station), go online to Amtrak's home page
(www.amtrak.com) and use the “Train Status” option on the
left-hand side, or call Amtrak's toll-free number (1-800-USA-
RAIL). If the automated system tells you the train is running on
time, head for the station as originally planned. However, if they
say the train is running significantly late, beware! Since Amtrak
builds padding into their schedules, your train could make up a
lot of that lost time. The fail-safe method is to call the Amtrak
station one or two stops before yours a few minutes before the
train is due there. By then they'll know exactly when the train
will be arriving, and the timetable will tell you the running time
from there to your station.
Whatever Happens, Do Not Miss Your Train!
Someone once said that the only way to be sure of catching a
train is to miss the one before it. Maybe that was true in the
good old days, but miss one of Amtrak's long-distance trains and
you've got a real problem. Most of them operate just once a day,
so in the best-case scenario you'd have to wait 24 hours for the
next one. During peak travel times, however, you may find the
train sold out for the next day . . . and the next, and the next.
That's especially likely if you're riding in a sleeping car.